Various conventional platforms provide textual interaction with multiple information databanks. However, physical inability and multitasking have increasingly dictated the use of hands-free systems, such as voice response systems. While conventional resources such as the Internet (or World Wide Web) have provided users with a ready access to a wide array of information, accessing such information has conventionally required text-based queries. Similarly, other services accessible either through the Internet or from other sources generally require a user to interface using text based, key-stroke commands. While voice response interfaces are available (e.g., subscriber's voice mail system), robust capabilities for information access is desirable. Furthermore, existing voice response interfaces are limited to a particular function, and are not readily adaptable to a user's information requirements. As society becomes more mobile (i.e., access to wireless communication) and more dependent on instantaneous dissemination of information, notification of important information with the ability to confirm receipt of the information using voice response is desirable.
For example, emergency responders (e.g., firefighters, search-and-rescue teams, or others) need to be contacted immediately to see who is nearby and available. Conventionally, such life-critical dispatching operations are left to human operators. Human operators contact the appropriate person and determine whether that person can respond to the emergency. However, human operators conventionally receive hundreds of phone calls with different emergencies that make it difficult to reach an emergency responder efficiently.
In other instances, conventional notification systems inform a user when an electronic mail (“e-mail”) message was received and allows the user to read the message. Some conventional notification devices provide services that send stock updates, sport scores, weather alerts, traffic updates or other variable information to text-compatible communication devices. However, the message may not arrive to the intended recipient, because people can forget to carry their communication devices with them, or the communication devices can fail for any variety of reasons. Conventional services can determine whether the communication device received the notification, but ensuring that the intended recipient received the notification is desirable.
In still other instances, a recipient can very quickly be inundated with information that the recipient is not interested in. Conventional automated notification systems notify the recipient of all e-mail (e.g., on a store and forward basis) regardless of whether the message is unsolicited (“spam”) or an expected message. Sorting through the unwanted messages with greater efficiency is desirable.
In some conventional approaches of communication, a user carries multiple communication devices. The user communicates with a combination of devices, such as a pager, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a two-way communication device (e.g., BLACKBERRY®), or others. However, having multiple communication devices makes it difficult to maintain each device in operating condition and affordable communication service.
In other conventional approaches, text-to-speech (TTS) technology provides users the ability to retrieve e-mail messages over the telephone by reading a text message to the user. However, the user must call in and sift through all the messages in the user's voice mailbox, so informing the user when a message has arrived is desirable.
Thus, what is needed is a solution for using voice-based communication to reduce dependency of text-based communication and increase assurance of information reaching recipients. The solution should permit interactive voice access and retrieval of information without the limitations of conventional techniques.